


Waiting Room

by VirgilVirgilVirgil



Series: Gravity [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Family Feels, Family Fluff, Nagai - Freeform, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 14:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12459633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirgilVirgilVirgil/pseuds/VirgilVirgilVirgil
Summary: Fleeing from his captors, a young Nagai crash lands on a snowy little planet where he finds unexpected allies.It's not necessary to read any other stories in the series to understand this one, butHarkbackerandFour Ring Circuswould provide background for a good deal of the OC's.**Like acompletemoron, I accidentally deleted the original publication of this story. So to everyone who read, commented and left kudos on the original: THANK YOU, and I'm really sorry I had such a stupid moment. Here's the complete story, for all you amazing readers following along.**





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated T, but does contain profanity for anyone who's sensitive to that.
> 
>  
> 
> [Pan's Playlist](https://virgilvirgilvirgil.tumblr.com/post/166467369852/waiting-room-pan)
> 
>  
> 
> [Arlo's Playlist](https://virgilvirgilvirgil.tumblr.com/post/166537815742/waiting-room-arlo)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm excited to get back to this series, starting with yet another new OC -- a Nagai! I feel like they're one of the less popular legendary species, but I happen to adore their design (*cough, cough* I might be a massive Vampire Hunter D fan, and I'm 99% sure their design was heavily inspired by D).
> 
> FYI, the title was taken from Fugazi's amazing song by the same name.
> 
>   
> 

  


Pan pulled his hood tighter around his face and wished the fur lining was warmer. He never could have imagined he’d need a coat warmer than this one. This planet was fucking cold, and to top it off it was terribly windy. The terrain where his ship crash landed was more mountainous, so the wind was largely cut off, but as he headed for civilization – a small city visible in the distance -- the mountains gave way to a vast, flat area where the city was. The wind whipped up snow, creating a bitter, cutting chill, the sort that made him feel like the coat was basically useless.

He kept focused on his trek and made it to the city just before the sun went down. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky; no doubt if he were still walking out there when darkness fell his life would be at stake simply due to the harsh cold. He could find sufficient as shelter in this city, like a closed off stoop or bridge or something.

He wondered where he was. What was this planet? What species inhabited it? He hadn’t seen another living soul since the crash. Hopefully he wouldn’t stand out too much; he hoped to remain as conspicuous as possible. All he needed was food and some medical supplies to bandage up the injury he’d sustained in the crash (a kind of nasty looking, very deep gash in his forearm), and somewhere he could hide and sleep through the night without freezing to death. He pulled his scarf higher around his face, covering up to his nose, and made his way deeper into the city.

He would steal someone’s ship in the morning and be on his way again.

It was an attractive city, likely a capitol or something, with neatly organized buildings and well kept streets. It was only a few blocks before he started to see people. There weren’t many of them on the streets, maybe due to the harsh weather and time of day, but he could see them in some of the buildings. Humans -- all of them were humans from what he could see.

He counted himself lucky. Not only could he very nearly pass as a human, but every single one of the humans he saw had black hair and pale skin like him. Well, his skin was white, but it was close enough. He’d keep himself covered to be safe. This might be easier than he was expecting.

He reached what appeared to be the center of the city, an area dense with shops. He needed to find some sort of grocery and supply store. Bandages and food, that was all he needed. He tried to remember the last time he ate. Two days ago? Three days ago? Food was a high priority.

He went into a store. There were humans inside, all speaking Basic. He wasn’t familiar with their specific accent, but it was Basic nonetheless. Yet another thing working to his advantage – they spoke a language he was familiar with. Not that he really needed to speak with any of them (or that he wanted to), but it was convenient to be able to understand what the people around him were saying.

He located a few suitable food items and slid them into his coat, then tracked down some bandages and healing ointment. The one advantage to a bulky cold-weather coat: he could hide a lot in it.

He made his way to the exit, making it just outside before a strong hand grabbed the back of his coat, jerking him to the side and throwing off his balance.

“What do you think you’re doing, you brat?”

Fuck. Caught.

He didn’t reply. There was no way he could emulate the accent of the people around here, and he would prefer to not completely give himself away.

The man jerked at the back of his jacket again, dragging him back into the store. He probably could have fought the guy off if he weren’t exhausted from the ship crash and coping with pain from the arm injury he’d sustained in the crash. Standing upright was taking just about all the energy he had left.

The man forced the jacket open, still gripping him, and tossed the stolen items onto the counter, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. What do you think you’re doing, stealing from these shop owners?”

Pan didn’t respond.

The man shook his head, “What, do you not speak or something? What’s your name?”

“What’s going on here, Tev?” Another uniformed official came up to him, frowning.

“This brat’s been stealing shit from the store. And now he’s playing mute, won’t even tell me his damn name.”

The other man frowned at him. “He looks pretty pale. What’s up with his ears?”

A look of realization came over Tev’s face. Pan wondered how he managed to miss the ears in the first place. They were pretty obvious, especially since his head was shaved. “His ears… Oh. OH.” His frown turned to a deep scowl, “I see, almost had me fooled there. You must be one of those Sebai boys.”

The second man sighed a little, “Take him to Nev’s place, it’s not far from here.”

“Right.” The man grabbed his arms and cuffed him, somewhat painfully. Pan had bound up the wound on his arm pretty well with scraps of fabric once he escaped the ship’s wreckage, but the man’s grip wasn’t exactly comfortable. More like blindingly painful.

He forced him out to the streets, pushing him around the corner so roughly he knocked the hood back onto Pan’s head, which he supposed was a good thing. They walked a couple blocks to a large, old looking building. Tev pushed him a little too forcefully through the doorway, both of them tracking snow inside.

It was massive inside, with wooden floors and white walls covered in artwork. He didn’t care for any of it. He’d never really understood art. It was more or less meaningless to his life. Though to be fair, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d stood and looked at a painting. Interior décor hadn’t been much of a concern where he was before.

“Nev!” The man shouted.

The place was entirely dead – his shout echoed.

After a few quiet moments, an old woman dressed in a navy blue oddly shaped jacket stepped into the hallway. She looked somewhat regal, with a big silver cuff on her wrist with a sparkling stone set in it. She walked to them, her posture perfect, head held high with confidence. “Yes, officer? What can I help you with?”

The man shoved him toward the old woman, “Tell your son to get his family of circus freaks under control. I just caught this one stealing from the store around the corner.”

She glanced to him from the corner of her eye, her eyebrow slightly raised.

He wondered who the hell this old woman was, and why she’d look at him like that.

“I’ll be sure to give him your message, officer. You know, Baz is actually quite good friends with the chief?”

The man looked like he wanted to bite his lips.

The old woman smiled, “That does tend to happen in his sort of position. You take care of a great deal of police force funding. I’ll be sure to let him know his… what did you call his children? Circus freaks? Are contributing to budget depletion.”

She turned sharply and started to walk away, then stopped and looked back at Pan, “Well? Are you coming with me or not?”

This old woman was slightly frightening, but she’d be easier to escape than a police officer.

The officer removed his cuffs. Pan made a point to sneer at him before following after the woman.

They walked down the hall without saying a word, the only noise the heels of her boots echoing off the wooden floors. She didn’t speak until he heard the main door close with the officer leaving.

“What’s your name, young man?”

He didn’t respond. He needed an exit, not a friend. He looked around for a doorway or a window.

Her heels clicked to a sudden halt and he nearly ran into her.

She looked up at him with fierce silver grey eyes, not too terribly different in color from his. There was something behind the look that frightened him a little. Add to it that this little old woman, who wasn’t even shoulder height to him, didn’t seem even remotely intimidated by him. He was under the impression that he had best show her some courtesy.

In case her point wasn’t clear, she said: “Young man, I could have told that officer that I have no damn clue who you are and let him take you off to prison. The least you can do is give me your name.”

He hesitated. “It’s Pan.”

She tilted her head, squinting a little. “Pan. Interesting. That’s a good name.”

He wondered if he was supposed to thank her. Was that a compliment?

She turned and continued down the hallway. “You’re not a very good conversationalist, are you Pan? My name is Nev.”

He’d caught that earlier. They passed a doorway and he slowed just slightly, thinking he could make a run for it.

“That door is locked; best not make a complete fool of yourself.” She paused for a moment, “You might be able to make it out of a window if you really tried… but it is about a ten foot drop into some thorny bushes, so I wouldn’t recommend it.”

He sighed and decided to just ask, “How can I get out of here?”

“I would prefer it if you didn’t.” She said shortly. “It’s curious to me that they would think you’re one of my grandchildren.” She glanced at him quickly, “You look quite Nivitian. Though you’re a little pale.”

She turned into a room with a large, old wooden door, “Arlo, dear, I’m afraid we need to leave a little early. Something’s come up.”

He looked into the room and the strangest sensation, like he tripped even though he was standing perfectly still.

She was speaking to a young woman, who sat on a stool behind an art canvas, her legs drawn up onto the stool and crossed. When she stood, he could see was a little shorter than the old woman with dark blue eyes and olive green skin and dark hair, shaved with a pattern one side and tapering to nearly shoulder length on the other side with little red pieces sticking out here and there.

She was _really_ cute.

 “Oh?” She sounded disappointed, but smiled when she saw him, “Oh. Hello.”

“Pan, this is my granddaughter, Arlo.”

Arlo stood and held her hand out to him, “Hey, it’s good to meet you.”

He really would have liked to shake her hand, but his hand was shaking, throbbing with pain, and very possibly covered in blood – he needed to take a second look at the injury soon.

The whole scenario ran through his head: _She shook his gloved hand, a cute little smile on her face that faded quickly when she drew her hand back and found it covered in his blood. Ew._

What an awful first impression that would be.

She looked confused, maybe mildly offended, but played it off with a smile when she dropped her hand. “Okay.” She looked at her grandmother.

Nev waved a hand at him, “He’s a little short with words, from what I can tell. The police just brought him to me; they think he’s one of your siblings.”

She looked confused. “Er… what?” She looked at him, “Why would they think that? He looks like a Nivitian. A little pale, but…” She squinted at him, “Are you human?”

What an odd question to ask. “No, I’m not. My ship crash-landed several miles outside of town, I’m just trying to find a way back off the planet. I have somewhere important to go.”

“Oh.”

Nev looked up at him skeptically, “How did they figure out you aren’t human? The people here are quite unfamiliar with non-humans.”

“Er…” He used his good hand to take the hood off, exposing his pointed ears.

“Oh.” The old woman’s eyebrows raise a little.

“ _Oh_ … let me see…” The girl stood on her toes, barely able to reach up to ear height. Had his arm been functional he would have pushed her away. He wasn’t particularly fond of people touching him.

But then she was really pretty. A cute girl was touching his ear… Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.

Actually, it sounded like a terrible idea.

“Aw… they’re kind of cute!” And she was touching his ear…

 “Er… please… get off me…” He tried to pull away, but his body wasn’t really cooperating.

She dropped down to her regular short height, “Sorry. We don’t see many non-humans around here.” She looked at her grandmother, “Well… do you think we should take him home?”

Nev nodded. “Yes, that’s precisely what I was thinking.”

He shook his head quickly, “Ah… No. I appreciate the thought, but I’m leaving.”

Nev raised an eyebrow, “No you aren’t.”

_He snaps at her: Yes, I am fucking leaving and there’s nothing you can do about it._

_The old woman doesn’t like to be talked back to. She unleashes her wrath and breaks him in two._

He kept his mouth closed. It wasn’t worth arguing with her. She was a little scary.

“You’ve found yourself in the unfortunate situation of having crash-landed on a planet with almost no ships, Pan. We happen to own a few of the only ones on the entire planet. So I suggest, if your goal really is to leave Nivo, that you come with us.”

She looked at him like she was daring him to question her. He glanced to Arlo. She gave a subtle nod.

“Fine.”

“Good.”

The two women got their coats and locked up the building. Nev sent her granddaughter to check if she turned the light off in her office before they left. When she was out of sight, Nev poked his chest, “Now, we are about to step out in public. Please keep in mind that people are assuming you’re one of my grandchildren.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

She gave him a severe look, “I’m asking you to mind the looks you’re giving my granddaughter. People think my family is odd enough as is, the last thing we need to do is make them think we’re _that_ sort of odd.”

“Um…” Was it really that noticeable? He didn’t even think he was really looking at her… that much…

“And if I can make another suggestion, watch your etiquette around my husband.” She shook her head, looking annoyed with everything in general. “You _really_ don’t want him thinking you’re rude.”

  



	2. Chapter 2

_He took off running into the thick of the city. The two women weren’t anywhere near fast enough to keep up with him. He ducked into the stoop of a brick building and made himself comfortable. He’d find a ship to steal in the morning._

_It was cold when it got dark. Bitter, terrible, cold. It stormed. He thought of the cute green girl, and fell asleep._

_He didn’t wake up, because it was too damn cold and he froze to death._

Pan sighed, dismissing his chances of running away as he tracked along through the snow with Nev and Arlo. This was his best chance at survival. They probably had bandages at their house. His fingers were tingling and he could barely feel his hand, but his arm ached terribly.

“You said you crash landed here? You’re a pilot?” Arlo looked up at him, nearly bouncing through the snow. There was something about the way she walked, almost like she didn’t even sink fully into the snow when she stepped.

He nodded shortly. “Yeah, I mean… I can fly. Of course. How else would I have gotten here?”

_Her big eyes tear up. He’s offended her, made her feel like she was asking stupid questions._

_Fuck. Be nicer. No offending her._

She didn’t actually tear up, in fact, she seemed to not even notice how rude he was. “Is that normal where you’re from?”

“What? Flying? Yes.”

“Oh… that’s awesome. It’s very not normal here. Obviously. Nobody even has ships. Where are you from?”

He didn’t intend on answering that if she didn’t already know.

She shrugged, huffing a cloud of cold breath before her, “Okay, don’t answer.”

By the time they reached their destination, his arm was no longer throbbing in pain. The whole thing was just numb.

_That might not be a good thing, but at least it doesn’t hurt._

These people, whoever they were, were clearly wealthy. Their home was huge, located right on the outskirts of the city.

Arlo darted through the door and, standing in the entryway, yelled, “Hey! We have a guest!”

He stepped to the side and let the old woman enter before him. She looked at him from the corner of her eye when he did, like she suspected him of something. He thought it would be a nice gesture, but her expression made him wonder if she was offended or something.

“Who is it?” A girl, about Arlo’s age, with pink skin and dark blue hair looked around the corner at them.

Arlo motioned to him, pulling her thick coat off and hanging it in the closet. “His name is Pan. The police brought him to grandma, they think he’s our brother.”

The pink one looked confused.

Arlo took her grandmother’s coat and hung it, “He’s got pointy ears, he’s not human.”

“ _Oh_. I was going to ask if it’s just because he’s pale.” She smirked. She was very pretty, in a way that felt somewhat dangerous. He sort of didn’t want to look at her.

She gave him a cool wave, “It’s good to meet you. I’m Trixie, Arlo’s sister.”

Arlo offered to take his jacket. He waved her off, “I won’t be staying long.”

Nev disappeared into the house. Arlo looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Um… have you not figured it out yet? You have to stay for awhile. Where do you think you’re going? I doubt you have any money to rent a hotel room if you were just in a crash. You’ll freeze to death if you stay outside tonight. And a huge storm is about to hit, so even if you survived one night by luck you wouldn’t make it long.”

This was just about his worst nightmare. He couldn’t get stuck here. He needed to move on. He had important things to take care of.

“Who’s here?” A green man with tentacle-like appendages hanging off the back of his head where hair should be joined them. He appeared to be a few years older than Pan.

Circus freaks. He was starting to see what the officer meant. Whatever species these three belonged to, he didn’t recognize any of them.

“Hey Kiva. This is Pan, they think he’s one of us.” Arlo said.

“He has pointy ears,” Trixie explained, smirking.

“Oh… not just because he’s pale?”

The repetition was making him dizzy.

Kiva had a very wide, friendly smile. He held out his hand, “It’s good to meet you, Pan. What brings you to Nivo?”

He shook his head quickly, “My ship crashed…” He could see Arlo trying to subtly tell Kiva to take his hand away. Kiva got the message and withdrew his hand quickly.

“Uh… you crashed here? Where did you crash?”

“Several miles outside the city…” He trailed off as Nev returned. She had two Chiss with her. Chiss. In this part of space. What the hell were Chiss doing here? Was he hallucinating?

Pan assumed the old one was Nev’s husband. He had the demeanor of a man who you don’t deny a handshake to. The other was younger, somewhere in his 40’s or 50’s.

The young one smiled kindly, like a Chiss never would to a complete stranger. “Hello, my mother tells me they think you’re one of my kids.”

The old one looked at him narrowly. It may have something to do with the fact that Pan’s mouth was hanging open. “What… what are _Chiss_ doing all the way out here?”

“I do think it would be far more appropriate for us to ask that of you…” The old one stepped forward, looking him over. His voice… Pan felt like it had been ages since he heard that accent. He was from Csilla. The younger one, his son, Pan assumed, spoke like the people on this planet. But a Chiss. From Csilla. Here.

The old one inhaled deeply, “You’re Nagai? I haven’t seen one of your kind in a great many years. You are a very long way from home.”

“I am.” He didn’t know what else to say.

The old one looked at him for a moment, and then turned to go back into the house, “Well, I suppose it would be in poor taste to interrogate the man before he has a chance to sit.”

The younger one smiled. He did that way too much for a Chiss. He was clearly half Chiss. Not from Csilla. “That’s my father’s way of inviting you in.” He motioned, “Come in, take a seat. Dinner is about ready, you can eat with us if you’re hungry.”

Hungry. Fuck, he was hungry. He could smell whatever they were making; it smelled amazing.  But then anything would smell amazing to him at the moment. His head spun; he was half starved and feeling overwhelmed by all these people… and the Chiss… what the hell was a native Chiss doing here?

He felt a hand on his good arm – it was the girl. The green one. What was her name again? She had very pretty eyes. And he liked her hair. She looked worried. What was she worried about? He didn’t like seeing her worried.

“Hey… Pan? Are you okay?” Her voice sounded like an echo. She said something else. He blinked a few times. He didn’t hear what she said.

He blinked. Shook his head. Tried to gather his bearings. Why was the room spinning?

 

**

 

When he opened his eyes he was somewhere else. Gravity was pulling him in another direction. He was lying down. On a bed. A tall, vaulted ceiling stretched up above him and he could hear voices…

He realized his injured arm was sprawled out to one side. It was still numb. He wiggled his fingers.

“Oh!”

“Woaaaah…”

He let his head fall to the side – two men, a human and a Zabrak, were poking at his arm.

The human looked up at him, wearing comical looking magnifying glasses, “Oh, hello there.” He was older, maybe in his 50’s.

The Zabrak was younger, likely in his early 20’s. He poked his shoulder, “Can you wiggle your fingers again?”

“What? Who the hell are you…”

“We can see your tendons move when you move your fingers! Are you grossed out by this sort of thing? Because if you aren’t you really should see it…” He was clearly excited by the prospect.

“The poor guy will probably pass out if you have him look at the inner workings of his own body. That’s a little too much for most people, Brink.” The human frowned at him.

“Yeah… but… I mean come on. It’s not every day you get to see tendons in action.”

The human laughed and elbowed him, “Go get some fresh bandages, we need to help the poor kid out.” Pan could see his old, makeshift bandages crumpled on the floor, stained with blood.

“So… I what happened to you, kid? They say your ship crash-landed outside of the city and you walked?”

He tried to push himself upright, but the man put a hand on his chest, forcing him back down. “Nope. You need to stay lying down until we get this stitched up.”

“Are you a doctor or something?” He didn’t mean to sound so snarky when he asked, it just sort of came out that way.

“I am, in fact.” He motioned to the Zabrak, who had returned with bandages, “And my son Brink here is just about to start attending medical school, I thought your injury might be a good learning experience for him.”

“That’s about the least reassuring thing you could tell someone, dad.  _Oh here are my inexperienced kid, let him take a stab at stitching up your arm._ ” Brink smirked. “But really, are you going to let me do the work?”

“No. No, sorry, not this time. You get to observe. Next time some poor bloodied soul walks through our door you can try to stitch them up. After you have a little more experience.” He nodded and turned his attention back to Pan. “I’m Sebbie, the father of Brink and the other three kids you met earlier. Well, the other father. You met Baz, he’s my husband.”

“Um… thank you. My name is Pan, and yes, I crashed here. Thanks for the help, but I’m sure I could take care of this on my own.”

Sebbie frowned a little, “As a medical professional with nearly three decades of experience, no, you can’t take care of this on your own. Don’t worry about it; we’ll get your arm fixed pretty quickly.”

“How did you manage to walk several miles with your arm split open and dislocated and a broken collar bone?” Brink asked.

“Er… what?”

“Mm. You probably couldn’t tell from the pain of the laceration, but your arm is dislocated and your collar bone is broken.” Sebbie said.

He moved his fingers, “I guess that makes sense. My arm was caught between two crunched pieces of metal from the ship… Wasn’t exactly fun to try and get it out.”

“Oi… what? You did this to yourself?” Sebbie looked shocked.

He nodded slowly.

“What did you expect him to do, lie there and freeze to death?” Brink frowned at him. “He had to survive somehow.”

“True, it was probably a wise decision.” Sebbie nodded, “You wouldn’t have lived through the night out there -- it gets far too cold. You have some pretty intense bruising on the arm as well, I figured something pretty traumatic happened. I’m going to start stitching it closed. You might want to look the other way.”

Pan did, feeling a light headed.

Sebbie continued talking while he worked. “It’s pretty late and there’s a terrible snow storm due to hit in anytime now, but I can take you into my workplace as soon as the weather clears and we can get you into a bacta tank. Unfortunately we’re pretty limited with what we can do for you tonight.”

“It’s fine. Just set it and lend me a sling if you have one, I’ll be on my way tomorrow morning.”

He hummed. “I mean… that’s your prerogative, but if you choose that just know that you’re looking at a 3-4 month recovery window, and you’ll likely have problems with it for the rest of your life due to incorrect healing. The bacta tank will have you more or less recovered in a few hours.”

That was disastrously tempting. Three months sounded awful. Lifelong issues sounded even worse.

“And,” he added casually, picking at Pan’s arm, “You’re really thin. My father-in-law reassures me that it’s just the nature of your species to be so thin, but I’m pretty sure you must be hungry. We’d be more than happy to feed you.”

What the hell was wrong with these people just… opening up their home to him?

“It’s up to you, but we’d be happy to have you stay for a little while. And as your current physician, I’d recommend you take it easy for a bit and let yourself recover.” He paused. “We’re all really nice people, I swear.”

“Except Kiva.” Brink added with a grin. “Don’t trust him.”

“You’re done.” The man announced, sitting upright and swatting at Brink for the comment. “Well, at least _that_ is done. There’s still the issue of your shoulder… I hate to tell you this, but we’re going to need to reset it.”

He nodded, sitting upright, “That’s fine.”

“Have you ever had to do this before?”

He shook his head.

“Well… okay then. I think I need to be honest with you… it’s not going to feel good.”

“But… if his collarbone is broken aren’t we risking aggravating that by putting his arm back in place?” Brink asked.

He nodded, “In short, yes.” He looked at Pan, “Sorry, it’s probably best you understand this as well before we get on to this next part. There’s no way for us to put your arm back into place without potentially irritating your clavicle fracture. Like I said, this won’t feel good. In this case, it’s the lesser of two evils. The collarbone fracture will heal, but the dislocated arm can leave long term damage if it’s not fixed soon. So,” he turned to a bag sitting on the desk next to him and rifled through it, “What I can do is give you some anesthetic to hopefully help make this a little easier.” He pulled a syringe and small bottle of some liquid from the bag. “Is that okay with you?”

Pan wasn’t entirely fond of needles. After everything he’d been through he thought he would be used to them, but he still wasn’t.

He hesitated. What if they were completely crazy people set on killing him?

_He lets a complete stranger inject him with an unknown substance. They’re actually a family of psychopaths. They kill him._

It’s not like he’d be able to defend himself if they really wanted to get at him.

_He says no. They’re a family of psychopaths. They kill him anyway because he’s too damn weak to fight back._

He nodded. Why the hell not? After everything he’d been through, it honestly couldn’t get a whole lot worse. Anyway, they didn’t seem crazy.

He felt a little pinch when the needle pressed into the back of his shoulder. The pain disappeared quickly. He hadn’t realized just how much his shoulder was hurting; he couldn’t stop a relieved breath when it started to go numb.

“Yeah… I had a feeling you were hurting pretty badly.” The man injected him a few more times, once on his upper arm and once near his collar bone.

The man instructed him to sit on the corner of the bed. “Try to relax. You can close your eyes if you need to. The more you can relax the easier this is going to be.”

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He couldn’t have been much more relaxed. With his shoulder numb, he felt like he could fall asleep.

“Brink is going to brace your shoulders, I want to try and minimize the impact on that fracture as much as possible. Is that okay?”

“Yep.” He could hear him fishing around in the bag.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“I… um… fifteen? Maybe sixteen?”

“I’ve always thought it’s easier to lose track of that thing when you’re out in space.”

“You’re from out there?” He’d noticed the man didn’t share the same accent as Arlo and her grandmother and the younger Chiss. He wasn’t from this place.

“Mm. I am, so to speak. I’m from Coruscant originally, are you familiar?” He felt Sebbie’s hands on his arm, searching for a good gripping position.

“I’ve heard of it.”

“I suppose it is pretty far from where you’re from. Of course, everything is pretty far from where you’re from.”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“I’m afraid I’m not familiar with where you’re from at all. Is Basic your native language?”

“No, but Basic pretty common there.”

“I see… You speak it very well. You must have grown up with it in your home?”

“Mm. Yes.” He nodded.

“Where did you learn to fly?”

“My mother taught m…” He wasn’t able to get the rest of the sentence out –there was an awful, audible pop when the man moved his arm into place, and the pain… he swore he could only hear ringing for a few minutes. He was happy none of them knew his native language – he found himself cursing violently.

“Sorry… At least I had some numbing medication to give you.” He nodded to Brink, “I think we’re basically done here. Pan, you need to take it easy for a few weeks, your arm is going to be pretty weak. The bacta tank will help as soon as we can get you to it. Brink, why don’t you go join the others? Send Baz up here if you see him.”

Baz… which one was that? There were far too many people here.

Brink nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Sebbie leaned back in his seat, “How are you feeling?”

He huffed, moving so his back was resting against the wall, “You’re kidding, right?”

He smiled, “I can give you some painkillers, should help get you through until morning.”

At this point he would take anything the man had to give him.

The door creaked open and the younger Chiss joined them. Baz. This guy’s husband. The rainbow of kids were all theirs.

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

There was no question that could have been more irritating to be asked twice in a row right now. He didn’t even bother responding.

“Oh… that good?” Baz laughed a little. Pan had never been particularly good at controlling his expressions.

“Pan is going to spend the evening here,” Sebbie explained. “I need to get him into the bacta tank at work as soon as this storm passes. His arm is in pretty poor condition and his collarbone is broken.”

Baz nodded, “Yes, of course. I assumed he would be staying anyway.” He looked at Pan. “I do have some questions for you, but from the sounds of it you’ve had a long enough day as is. We’re about to eat, are you hungry?”

“I – yes. I don’t need much, but I do appreciate you sharing.”

Baz shook his head, “Nonsense, we have plenty to share. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like, but if you’d prefer to eat up here I certainly don’t blame you.”

“If you don’t mind, I think want to stay here. I’m… tired.” He said lamely.

Baz nodded, getting to his feet, “I’ll send one of the kids up with food for you.”

Sebbie stood as well. “We’ll get you some clothes that fit tomorrow as well.” He looked down at Pan’s feet. Pan looked as well. The pants he was wearing were so short they showed his ankles. “I think Brink’s pants should be long enough for you, you’ll just have to cinch the waist to fit.”

“That’s not…”

He waved a hand, dismissing the objection before it could even really be made, “Don’t argue, it’s not a problem.”

Baz paused before the door, “If you need anything, just let any one of us know. We’re happy to help.”

With that, they left. He located his shirt and thought he might try to pull it on, but his arm was resisting any movement whatsoever. He gave up and sat back down, looking around the room. There were a lot of little trinkets and maps on the walls, but for the most part the room is pretty tidy.

He wondered what these people were thinking, inviting some complete stranger into their home and letting him sleep in what is clearly someone’s bedroom. Which one did this room belong to? Aside from the trinkets there weren’t many hints.

The door opened and he was surprised to see Arlo enter. He jumped up to help her – her arms were full of plates.

She laughed at him, “How do you think you’re going to help? You only have one good arm.”

He took one precarious looking plate, wondering why she brought so much for one person. Not that he would complain. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate food like this. Years ago.

She slid the dishes of food onto the desk and turned to him, “How are you feeling?”

He sincerely wished nobody would ask him that question ever again, in his entire life.

“Fine.” He lied.

She smiled weakly, “I… I wanted to apologize to you. I didn’t realize you were in so much pain. I could tell you were carrying your arm strangely, but I thought… I don’t know, it just never occurred to me that you might be injured. I feel really bad that we made you walk all the way to the house. We should have taken you to a hospital right away.”

He shook his head, “Nah. Don’t worry about it. I was trying to hide it. I didn’t even realize how bad it was.”

She looked back at the desk. “I know you wanted to eat up here, but I thought you might like some company? Nobody should eat a meal alone.”

If it had been any of the others he would have found a polite way to say no, but… Arlo was okay. He could make due with having her around. “Er… sure.”

She smiled and grabbed a giant bowl of leafy greens from the table, evidently intending on eating them all herself. She grabbed a fork and shoved a wad of greens into her mouth, “Is there anything you can’t eat?”

“Um…” He wasn’t sure what that meant. Rocks? He couldn’t eat rocks.

She motioned with her fork, “Like my brother Brink can’t eat mushrooms. Kiva likes to sneak them into his food. And my dad Baz and I don’t eat any meat, though that’s really by choice.”

“Um... No. I don’t think so.” When was the last time he had anything other than rations?

“Mm. Good, then eat.” She shoveled down a few more mouthfuls of greens.

He picked at some of the food. It was good. Really good. Part of him felt like he’d forgotten what flavor was.

“Where are you from?” She asked.

“Mm… it is very far from here. A planet called Nagi. Well… sort of. My family lives on a ship, just off the planet.”

“You grew up on a ship?”

He nodded, “Mostly. Yes.”

She chewed on another mouthful. “How do you not go crazy, confined to a teeny little space like that?”

He shrugged, “It was a pretty large ship. And it was all I knew. We didn’t stay on the ship all the time. We landed pretty often.”

“Mm. I guess that makes sense.”

“Whose room is this?”

“Mm? Oh, it’s Kiva’s room. He’s sort of…” She poked at one of the mystery trinkets, “a tinkerer, I guess you could say.”

“Oh. I don’t want to take someone’s room…”

She waved a hand, “Don’t worry about it. Kiva can sleep on the couch. Or the floor. We should make him sleep on the floor.”

He got the sense she was joking. He hoped she was. “It’s really not…”

“Nah. Don’t worry about it. Really.”

He blinked at her, “You are all… oddly kind.”

“Are we?”

“Yes.”

She thought for a moment, “I suppose the nature of our family makes us open to brining anyone into our home.”

“Your grandfather… the old Chiss. What is he doing here?”

“Mm. I suspect it has a great deal to do with my grandmother.” She smirked.

“Yes… but… how does a Chiss end up here? The planet I’m from – it’s relatively close to Csilla.”

“Oh, really? Well my grandfather is originally from Csilla, but ended up leaving to on a mission with a rather large military in the central part of the galaxy. He met my grandmother when he was heading back to Csilla from his mission.” She crunched on the greens for a few moments. “What made your ship crash?”

He shook his head. “I… don’t want to talk about that.”

She nodded, “Okay. What do you like to do for fun?”

He was pleasantly surprised by her lack of persistence on the subject of the crash. He thought for a moment, “I used to be into sort of… self defense, I think is what you call it.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Really? You fly ships _and_ fight for fun?”

“I used to.”

“Mm. Your life sounds so much more interesting than mine.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why do you say used to? You don’t do it anymore?”

He shook his head, “I haven’t in… a few years.” How long had it been? He didn’t want to think about this anymore. “What about you?”

“Mm… well I’m an artist. Drawing, mostly.”

“Oh. It must be nice that your grandmother works at that museum…”

“She doesn’t really work there much anymore. I help her manage it. She’s an artist as well… a fantastic one, really. We have some of her work hanging around the house, I’m sure you’ll see it at some point.” She was quiet for a moment. “Where were you trying to go when you crashed?”

He hesitated, not really wanting to answer. “Home.”

“Oh. To your family?”

He nodded. No more elaborating. That was all anyone really needed to know.

She squinted at him, “You’re a little… untrusting, aren’t you?” She shrugged when he hesitated, “We’ve welcomed you into our home and fed you and even fixed up your arm and offered to take you to a hospital. And you still don’t quite trust us.”

 _She’s offended. Oh no._ “I… I don’t mean anything by it. I am thankful for your family’s kindness.”

She shook her head, “I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything.” She shoveled the last of the greens into her mouth, “I’m just saying. It’s weird.”

“I am sorry.”

“Don’t be. You have your reasons for behaving like you do, just like we have our reasons for behaving the way we do.” She smiled, “I think you’ll open up eventually.” She stood, taking the clean plate from him. “I’m going to take these downstairs, do you want more food? There’s plenty down there.”

He shook his head. His stomach was already turning from the richness of what he ate; he wasn’t sure it would be wise to eat any more. “No, no thank you.”

She disappeared out the door.

 

**

 

He woke to Arlo shaking him.

“Pan? Hey…” She smiled. “You fell asleep.”

He blinked blearily, “I… what?”

“You fell asleep on the floor.”

It was true. He was still sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed.

She laughed, “I thought you might be more comfortable in the bed.”

He half smiled, pushing himself to his feet weakly. So weakly, he didn’t really make it to his feet as much as he made it half way up and sort of slid onto the bed. When was the last time he slept in an actual bed?

She wrinkled her nose, heading for the door. “I’d tell you to sleep well, but I have a feeling you’re already there.”

Arlo wasn’t wrong. He barely remembered her closing the door.

  



	3. Chapter 3

Pan spent half the first night on the bathroom floor, profusely ill. Damn food. His stomach couldn’t handle it. To make things worse, his arm was still useless so he could barely prop himself upright.

He was as quiet as he could be, but evidently not quiet enough. The doctor – Sebbie – joined him, much to his embarrassment. Thankfully the man was understanding and seemed far more concerned with Pan’s wellbeing than the fact that he woke him up. He gave him some medication to settle his stomach and brought him a pillow and a few blankets. Pan was finally able to return back to sleep shortly after midnight, right on the floor of the bathroom. He didn’t feel quite confident enough to go back to the room they’d provided him. And the bathroom floor was somehow much more comfortable than any floor he’d slept on in years. The blankets helped. So did the fact that he wasn’t terrified for his life. He drifted off.

Until a headache hit him. It was the second one he’d gotten, and far worse than the first. It felt like his skull was being slowly split in half with a searing hot pick. Luckily, the headache was far easier to suffer through quietly.

 

**

 

The storm that was supposed to last through the night actually lasted two days. Baz apologized profusely, though Pan wasn’t certain why. It wasn’t like he had any control over the weather. Baz reassured him that this didn’t happen often, that he just happened to land on this planet during the worst time of the year. Again, Pan wasn’t sure why he bothered telling him this. It wasn’t like he would be here for that long. If he had his way he wouldn’t even be here for a full week.

The weather left them all stranded in the house until it let up; Sebbie was quite concerned about his arm, probably more than Pan was. Pan spent most of his time with their kids who, like Baz and Sebbie, were all inordinately kind. He kept offering Kiva’s room back to him – Pan really wouldn’t mind sleeping on the sofa. Admittedly, he wouldn’t mind sleeping on the floor. Even the floors here were more comfortable than what he’d grown used to. But Kiva adamantly refused, regardless of how many times he brought it up.

Arlo, he found, was actually a very talented artist. She sketched with charcoal, using her fingers to smear and smudge the lines into these beautiful, dramatic looking figures. He noticed black fingerprints all over the house the longer he was there – she seemed to track the residue everywhere with her. He’d never really understood or appreciated art, but by his best judgment hers was good.

He was careful about what he ate in the coming days, sticking to very small amounts of whatever relatively bland foods they had around the house until his stomach could adjust. It seemed to work, and by the time the storm let up he was able to expand his diet just slightly to contain a little flavor.

The morning that the storm cleared up Sebbie ushered him out the door and to the hospital first thing. Pan was grateful – they were almost out of painkillers.

He wasn’t sure how long he was in the bacta tank – he fell asleep. It worked perfectly though. His arm didn’t hurt at all, and the gash on his arm was entirely healed over. The deep purple bruises that appeared around his arm were mostly gone as well, save a few of the most severe ones which were faded to a shade of more regular looking bruising.

He stretched his arm and moved his fingers, “It feels… much better. Thank you.”

Sebbie shook his head, “No problem. Take a seat, I need to test a few things. Arlo should be here to pick you up shortly.”

He placed his arm on the table in front of him with his palm up, like Sebbie told him to. He had some sort of metal prodding tool that he used to poke at Pan’s fingers.

“Can you feel any of that?”

“Um… no.” It was odd, he was looking right at the tool as it touched his fingers but he couldn’t feel it at all.

He nodded, “I was afraid that might be the case. Unfortunately it looks like you do have some nerve damage to your arm. Some of the feeling might come back eventually, but there’s really no saying.”

He drew his hand back, pinching at his fingers. Some of it he could feel, in a very dull way. “At least I can move it.”

“Very true. At least you still have a hand. All things considered, I think you got pretty lucky.”

“Thank you. I don’t know that I would have a hand – or an arm – if it weren’t for you.”

“Not to stroke my ego, but that’s likely true.” He smiled, “I haven’t noticed you having any more issues with nausea. You’re managing to keep food down?”

“Yeah. I’m just being careful with what I eat. Not used to real food yet…”As it came out of his mouth, he realized how it must have sounded to Sebbie.

He frowned. “Rations?”

Pan nodded. Damn it. That was a stupid slip-up.

“How long?”

“A few years.” He shrugged. The honest answer was that he wasn’t really sure.

He ran his fingers over his mouth, “Well, you’ll be happy to know we don’t have any rations in the house.” He sighed, “Arlo should be here now. Is there anything else you want to discuss before you head back to the house?”

He looked at Pan like he was expecting something. Pan shook his head.

He nodded, “Right, then. I know you’re in a big rush to leave this planet, but if you don’t mind I’d prefer if you stuck around for a few more days, just to make sure nothing else is wrong with your arm. It’ll give you a few extra days to get your diet back on track as well.”

“Thank you. Do you think I could convince Kiva to take his bed back yet?”

Sebbie half smiled, “Honestly, no. But you can certainly try.”

He stood and went to the door.

“Oh, Pan, one more thing. I think Baz forgot to mention it to you, but we have some friends coming by tomorrow. They’re from another planet. Good people, I’m sure you’ll get along with them. Just wanted to let you know.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“I actually think you’ll get along with one of them very well…” He waved a hand, “I’m curious to let you talk to them.”

Arlo came shortly after their conversation ended, and they headed for the exit together. She was apparently in classes all day, and seemed relieved to be done.

They didn’t make it to the door of the hospital before he had another attack – a headache that became so painful so quickly that he worried he might not make it to a chair before he collapsed. Arlo realized pretty quickly that despite his reassurances that he was okay, he was really not okay. She sent a medic to fetch her father. He had no recollection of Sebbie coming to them; the pain blinded him too quickly.

When it finally subsided, he was in a private room in the hospital, with Arlo fidgeting nervously in a seat. Sebbie was in the doorway, giving orders out to someone. A pile of bloody tissues lay next to him – he must have gotten a bloody nose this time.

Arlo looked at him with huge, sad eyes, “Pan? Can you hear me?”

He nodded, wiping his upper lip in hopes that his face wasn’t smeared with blood.

Sebbie closed the door, a deep crease in his brow. “How are you feeling?”

“Mmph. Better. It’s gone. Just a headache.”

“A headache? Has that happened before?”

He nodded slowly, “A few times.”

“When was the last time?”

“The first evening I was here.”

He frowned. “Oh. That must have been a rough night.”

“It wasn’t fun.”

“Do they happen frequently?”

“Every few days.”

He nodded slowly, running his fingers over his lips. “I need you to stay here so I can run a few more tests. Arlo,” he nodded to his daughter, “Head home. I’ll bring him home with me after work.”

He deflated a little. A whole day of tests in this stuffy hospital?

 

**

 

Sebbie spent the day sending him through different machines, scanning his head and body and reading confusing looking charts and saying, “Hm…” with an expression that didn’t inspire much confidence. What was worse was that he wouldn’t tell Pan anything about what he was finding. Every time he asked, Sebbie just told him he hadn’t found anything conclusive yet.

They went to their home in the evening with no answers, but when he didn’t think Pan was watching, Sebbie had a concerned look on his face.

Just as Sebbie thought, Kiva adamantly refused to take his room back. He was left feeling guilty about it until Trixie quietly explained to him that it was easier for Kiva to sneak out and visit his girlfriend in the middle of the night if he was on the couch.

Brink was fascinated by the loss of feeling in Pan’s hand and suggested he try grabbing a hot pan. Pan was pretty sure he was joking.

 

**

 

Sebbie’s guests arrived the following morning, landing their ship in the space next to the house. He thought, very briefly, that the ship would probably be well suited to get him back to his home planet. He only thought it briefly though – he couldn’t do that to friends of these people, not after all they’d done for him.

Two men exited off the ship, greeted by Baz. They were clearly not used to the cold weather – they were both bundled in so many layers he couldn’t get a good look at them until they made their way inside and started peeling off layers.

One is a very, very tall blonde human (he had to duck to get through the door), and the other was a slightly shorter human with tattoos running up his neck and on his hands. He wore little round sunglasses, even inside. At night. Pan assumed the sunglasses were for effect. He looked like the sort of person that would do that.

Baz greeted them, “How are you both? And how is the little one?”

The blonde smiled, “We’re good, very good. And Rooney…”

“She’s not little anymore.” The tattooed one scoffed. “She’s taller than me.”

“She’s attending the Botak Military Academy right now, actually.”

“Ah… let me guess, a pilot?”

“Not to brag,” The blonde smirked, “But she’s a damn good one at that. It’s in her blood, I think.”

The tattooed one was eyeing Pan and all Baz and Sebbie’s kids over the rim of his sunglasses. “You trying to build a circus or something Baz?”

“I suppose introductions are in order,” Baz smiled widely. “These are my children, Brink, Kiva, Trixie, and Arlo. We have one more, Laza, but she’s off on other adventures at the moment, she’s attending university here. And then we have Pan, who’s... something of an honorary family member.”

Pan was a little flattered by the description. These people were far too nice.

“Guys, this is Cohren and Sev, two old friends of ours.” Sebbie said.

They chatted for some time; Sev was impressed with Brink’s face markings, and mentioned that he’s a tattoo artist. Brink was overtly proud of the markings, explaining that his biological father gave them to him before he passed. Sev was an encyclopedia of tattoo knowledge, despite being candidly spastic. Cohren was interested to speak to Brink as well – apparently Brink was about to go off to the same Academy their niece was attending, he wanted them to meet up.

Pan seated himself next Arlo in the kitchen when things started dying down, while Baz and Sebbie spoke quietly with the two guests in the living room. Sev, however, only seemed to have one volume. “Oh. Yeah. I can tell you exactly what’s going on. Lemme show you.”

Something hit the back of Pan’s head. He turned.

Sev was looking at him over the back of a couch, his sunglasses slid down the bridge of his nose.

“Did you just throw that at me?”

“Yeah.” He grabbed another coaster from the table and chucked it at him. He was quick – Pan didn’t have any time to dodge before it hits his shoulder.

“What the hell?” Pan snapped at him.

Sev chucked another one at him. “Come on.”

Cohren grabbed his wrist when he reached for another, “Sev…”

He jerked his hand away, waving him away, “I’ve got this.” He chucked another one.

“What the _hell_ are you doing Sev?!” Cohren looked terribly embarrassed.

Arlo stood up in a sort of comically vicious manner for someone so short, “Hey! Knock it off…”

Another one flew at his head.

“Come on, I know you can do it.” Sev taunted him.

The action drew the attention of the others. Kiva came to his side, “Hey man, what the hell are you thinking?”

Sev waved a hand for him to stop, “Just trust me, okay? I know what I’m doing.” He sent another one flying. “Do it, kid.”

“You’re going to run out of coasters.” Kiva pointed out, lamely.

“I’ll just throw other stuff at him.” Sev said, like it was the most obvious thing ever. It sort of was the most obvious thing ever. Of course he would just throw other things.

Another coaster flew at him; he jerked to the side just enough for it to hit his shoulder rather than his head. It bounced off and hit Arlo.

Pan snapped at him, “Stop it. _Now.”_

“Fuckin’ see? Collateral damage now because you’re not doing anything to stop me. _Fight back_.”

Another one.

“Use it. Come on. Use it.”

Two more, right in a row.

“I can’t use it,” He hissed. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Bullshit, yes it does.” Sev snipped back. “Oh! Wait! I get it! It doesn’t piss you off enough that I do this to you.”

He chucked the next one at Arlo.

“Stop it!”

Much to his shock, the projectile missed Arlo by several feet, seeming to turn and fly in a whole different direction.

Sev clapped his hands over his head, “See! Told ya!”

There was a deathly silence in the room.

“You can use the Force?” Baz asked.

He clamped his jaw shut. This had gotten him into a great deal of trouble before.

Sev clicked his teeth, “Look… kid… I know who you’re running from. I know they’ve made you suffer for what you have, but…” He motioned to Baz’s family, “These might be the best people you could have run into. They’re not about to hurt you.”

He huffed a little, crossing his arms. He was _definitely_ going to steal this jerk’s ship to get back home. “What do you think you know about me?”

He could see Sev roll his eyes behind the little round glasses. He stood from the sofa and turned away from him, then pulled his shirt up over his back, exposing a large scar that ran along his spine. Strange. Pan had one that looked almost identical. Pan’s was still fresh. Sev’s appeared healed over, likely years old.

He dropped the shirt and looked back at him, “You have one too, right?”

He nodded slowly. He assumed that there might be a few more like him in the facility, but Sev was older. His scar was so healed over… he must have been through the same thing _years_ ago.

“I didn’t know there were others. I mean I assumed there were a few more in the facility, but I didn’t know there were ones outside.” Pan said.

“Well, to be fair, until Baz and Sebbie gave us a call to talk about you, I didn’t think there were others either.” Sev paused, looking at Pan curiously. “What number are you?”

“What?”

“Your number.  Mine was seven. There were 12 of us in total that I knew of. I’m the only one that survived.”

“Seven… Seven? I… They gave me a number; I didn’t think much of it. It was 63.”

The look on Sev’s face confirmed they were both thinking the same thing: There were _so many_ _others_ who had been through what they went through.

Sev rubbed his mouth. “How many others were in the facility?”

“I don’t know. I was alone the whole time. The only people I saw were the ones running the tests. I never saw another patient.”

“Could you use the Force before they took you?”

He shook his head stiffly. “No. Could you?”

“I assume not. I don’t remember anything before the experiments. How old were you when they took you?”

“I was about 11.” His head was starting to hurt again. “Who exactly are they? What do you know about them?”

“Hm… well. Not much to be honest. They were an Imperial remnant, set on carrying out an old experiment from the days of the Empire. The goal, as far as I understand, was to see if Force sensitivity could be brought out in an individual who didn’t have it.”

“When Sev was found, the New Republic gutted the organization and sent the majority of the people involved to jail.” Cohren added. “I think we were all under the impression that was the end of it. Obviously they missed some people, though. Someone was able to continue the work.”

“Hm.” Sev frowned and fell back onto the couch, scowling. “Yeah. They’re up to something again.”

Pan had a million questions for the man flowing into his mind.

Sev heaved a sigh, “Well, anyhow, half the mystery is solved here, right? How does it feel Baz? You’ve got another Force sensitive one in your… circus…”

Baz looked confused. “Another one?”

Sev motioned sharply toward the teens in the kitchen, “Um… yeah. The red guy. Sorry… too many names.”

Brink was pillaging the fridge for food, three sealed bowls in his arms and a piece of dried meat hanging out of his mouth. He paused his search, blinking at Sev. “Eh?”

Sev sighed loudly again, “Here you all are sitting on a gold mine of Force sensitivity and you don’t even know it. Yeah. You. What’s your name again? Feral? Maul? Chaos? Doom?”

He pulled the dried meat from his mouth, “Brink.”

Sev snapped his fingers, “Yeah.  See? Wouldn’t have even needed to sense it from him, the kid’s a Nightbrother. Or maybe descended from one.” He motioned to his face, “This is really a dead giveaway.”

Brink looked sincerely confused. “Huh?”

“Yeah, I got the impression when I was talking to you earlier -- You have no idea, do you?” Sev looked at him dully.

“Ah… yeah, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“I think,” Arlo interrupted politely, “We are all very confused right now. What exactly are you saying they have?”

“The Force.”

The boldly made statement drew nothing but blank looks from the group.

Sev gave a dramatic huff, shooting Baz a glare, “Really? You never told your kids about the Force?”

Baz looked to Sebbie for support. “Um… Well… No.”

Sebbie shrugged, “It’s sort of… irrelevant to their day to day lives.”

Sev snorted, “Ah. Yeah. It’s in everywhere, in everything, it surrounds us and binds us and whatnot… one of your kids can even bend it to his will, but yeah, yeah, don’t worry, it’s basically irrelevant to you all.”

Cohren jabbed his ribs harshly, “Sev. Show some respect.”

“What?” He snapped at his partner. “I’m right and you know it.”

Cohren looked like he was about to object, then thought better of it and shut his mouth. Instead, he gave Baz and Sebbie an apologetic look behind Sev’s back.

“So… the Force… think of it like…” He waved his hands sporadically, “Like a sort of energy. It’s in everything, everyone… and some of us can manipulate it. Like you saw Beanpole here do a few minutes ago.”

Pan frowned at the name.

“Or… if you actually know what you’re doing with it…” He held his hands out before him, open, and tilted his fingers up a little. The coasters, scattered across the floor, zipped up and over to the little table and seated themselves politely right back where they came from. “You can do things like that. Only much better, that was really a pathetic show.” He tilted his head to the side, glancing to his blonde partner. “Happy now? I cleaned up after myself.”

Brink held a finger up, “If I could do that, I would definitely know.”

“Well yeah, you would know if you could but you can’t so you don’t.” He paused awkwardly, “Point being: You have it, I assure you, but you’re completely ignorant to it. If I threw enough coasters at you, you could probably make it work. You just need to be pissed off enough.”

Cohren shook his head. “Sev… that’s the wrong way to go about…”

“When did you become a Jedi master?” Sev waved at him. “The dark side is the easiest way to access it for people who don’t know what they’re doing. _Then_ you move them to using the light side.”

Brink was frowning to himself.

Sebbie inhaled deeply, “Okay, I think this conversation is best had in a slightly more private setting. Family, out.” He nodded to the kids. “Brink, Pan, you two please stay.”

Everyone moved out and he and Brink moved to the living area with the adults.

“So… I don’t get it, how do you know I can do this?” Brink asked.

“I can feel it, right? So if you’re attuned to it, and taught to sense it, you can feel it all around you, all the time. There’s a sort of… finite amount of it at any time, right? It’s like threads, running between you and everything else in the universe. And I can feel your thread – sometimes it moves differently than a non-Force users.”

He squinted. “Right… You do know that sounds like a complete lie?”

“Did you not just see me fly coasters across the room without touching them?”

“Yeah, I mean I am taking that into consideration. But I think if I had it, it would have shown itself by now. I mean… I’ve been pissed off before.”

Sev bobbed his head a little, “I mean yeah, it’s weird. You’re pretty old to never have noticed it before.” He paused. “It manifests differently in everyone. It could be that you’re one of those rare cases that only discover it late in life. Do you know of the Nightbrothers?”

“Ah… The what?”

“There used to be a clan of Zabraks from a planet called Dathomir. They were notorious for many, many years. Incredibly strong, and every single one of them was force sensitive. Odd fuckers, really. They were sort of… enslaved to this clan of females, all Force sensitive as well. Called the Nightsisters. Any of this ringing a bell for you?”

“Er… no.”

“Well, the men all had the markings, like you have. Facial tattoos are pretty common among Zabrak, but the style of yours is very specific to that clan. You’re too young to actually be from Dathomir though. The population there was wiped out ages ago.” He paused again, “How old were you when these two took you in?”

“Er… seven? Eight?”

“Do you remember your parents?”

“My father, yes.”

“And he was like you?”

“Zabrak? Yeah. And he had the markings as well, all over his body.”

“Yeah. Makes sense. That’s what they do. Really cool looking, a buddy and I ran into one of the few survivors years ago, in our late teens. I gave my buddy a full body piece a few months later, largely based off the Nightbrother’s piece.” He paused, and then added offhandedly, “It looked pretty fucking killer on him back then, unfortunately he’s turned into some… well balanced, happy individual with a family and shit.” He shook his head, disappointed.

Brink looked contemplative. “I guess… I guess I don’t know where my father was from. I was very young when he died, I don’t know that he ever told me.”

“Unfortunately there’s very little information about them. I can’t help you much, kid. Sorry.”

“Sev,” Sebbie butted into the conversation, “You mentioned once, years ago, that you get headaches?”

“Hm? Oh. Yeah.”

He pointed to Pan, “He’s been getting them as well.”

Sev frowned at him for a moment. He scratched his forehead. “I would have thought they’d have fixed that part by number 63.”

“Do you still get them?”

“Not as often, but yeah.”

“Has anything helped?”

He tapped the little round glasses he wore, “These seem to help a little.” He paused, “Also, when I was your age I did massive amounts of spice.”

Cohren punched his arm, “Sev, that’s the last thing you need to encourage the kid to do…”

He shrugged, “What? Look, I never said it worked. Made me a little more numb to the pain of it. Or just flat out unconscious during an attack. Sorry kid, there’s not good answer to that. You just have to deal with it. And not the way I did. Well, the glasses are okay. The spice isn’t.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“How’d you get away from them?” Sev asked.

“My door was unlocked.”

“They… unlocked your door?”

“Yeah.”

“And you just jacked a ship and crash landed here?”

“Pretty much.”

“Does that not strike you as too easy?”

“Of course it does. I figured it was a trap. And I didn’t really care.”

“If it was a trap, what were they trying to gain?”

He shrugged, feeling defeated. “I have no idea. I can’t lead them anywhere they don’t already know about.”

“Do you have siblings?”

“No.” A thought struck him, made him sick to his stomach. None that he knew of. Maybe his mother and father had another one after he went missing.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Sev’s pale eyes looked at him from the rim of his sunglasses. “I don’t think it was a trap. I think this organization has dissenters among them.”

  



	4. Chapter 4

Sev and Cohren spoke quietly with Baz and Sebbie when the two boys left, or at least as quietly as Sev’s one volume would allow.

“Well, you have two issues on your hands here.” Sev said. “On one hand, that kid cannot fly himself home. He avoided talking about it, but I’m willing to bet the reason he crashed here was because he had an attack while piloting that ship.”

Sebbie nodded, “Yeah. That’s what I thought. He’s not going to be happy about that.”

“Right. The second issue you’re facing is that he’s Force sensitive and has no training whatsoever. You guys can’t help him with that. But sooner or later -- sooner, preferably -- he needs to be around someone who can at least teach him the basics. He needs to know how to control it before it gets out of hand.”

Baz sighed, looking at Sebbie. “This won’t go over well. You know that. The boy is desperate to go find his family. We need to be cautious about how we approach the subject with him.”

“What are we going to do with him, Baz? I don’t mind keeping track of him from a medical standpoint, but we can’t help him with everything else he needs.”

Baz thought for a moment. He looked at Cohren, “I hate to suggest we pass him off to someone else but…”

“We’re not taking another kid.” Sev said flatly.

Baz laughed. “You never struck me as the type that wanted one in the first place.”

“Never. Rooney was a perfect accident. Anything else will fuck my opinion of all kids.” He paused. “No offense, he seems like a good kid and all.”

Cohren looked mildly horrified by Sev’s crassness.

“That actually wasn’t what I was going to suggest. I was going to ask what Iz has been up to?”

“That’s a good thought,” Sebbie said.

“Damn, that actually is a really good idea.”

“He and Cerys have two of their own, did you know that?” Cohren asked.

“I did, I heard through my sister. I certainly wouldn’t want to push the kid on them, but it seems like Iz could potentially help Pan a great deal.”

“Iz always wanted a giant flock of kids.” Sev said. “I think he’d be flattered more than anything.”

Cohren leaned back in the sofa. “Yeah, but their kids are young. They haven’t had to deal with a teenager yet.” He inhaled deeply. “I’ll reach out to him tonight and feel it out.”

 

**

 

“Sebbie and I have had some thoughts about your situation.” Baz said.

“Sev gave us some input, we think we might have a good way to help you.” Sebbie added.

Pan looked mildly bewildered by the private talk. Clearly he wasn’t used to this sort of thing. “Er… okay.”

“Baz and I both want what is best for you. After talking with Sev, two things became very evident. One, we completely defer to Sev’s judgment when it comes to Force-related things.”

“It’s really not our area of expertise, I hope you understand that." Baz said.

“Right. Sev insists that you need to have someone around who can coach you to control these abilities properly, before it gets out of hand and you hurt yourself. The second is…” Sebbie rarely faltered mid sentence, he was clearly struggling with this. He sighed, looking at Pan sadly, “Look, there’s no easy way to tell you this, but you can’t fly.”

Pan’s eyebrows drew together. “Yes I can.”

“Listen, Pan, we’re all on board to help you locate your parents. But trying to pilot back to your home world all by yourself presents a great deal of danger…”

“What? No it doesn’t.” He stood. “I don’t know what you people are talking about.”

“Why did you crash here?” Sebbie frowned at him.

The two looked at each other for a few tense moments.

“You got a headache, didn’t you? You had an attack, lost control of your ship, and damn near killed yourself. If we let you do what you want to do, that would happen again. Next time you might not get so lucky.”

Pan’s mouth hung open for a moment. “What the hell say do you think you have in this? You couldn’t stop me from leaving if you wanted to.”

“Probably not, if you were really determined.” Baz said. “Which I think you are. What we’re offering, in exchange for your cooperation, is our resources. We have a friend who is Force sensitive, like Sev. He also happens to be a doctor. We spoke with him last night. He’s completely open to taking you in. He can help with your headaches, and he can train you with the Force. He only lives on a planet a few days away from here, so you wouldn’t be terribly far. In the meantime Sebbie and I will do everything we can to locate your parents. My father is well connected in Chiss space. If you’re from that area there is a real chance we may be able to find them.”

“My family probably thinks I’m dead. I need to find them… And you… you people just want me to sit here and _wait?_ While you take care of everything? I’ve spent years…” he scratched his head, looking flustered, “Years of my life locked in some cell just waiting for someone… something… anything to get me out of there. And I’m finally out and you want me to wait longer?”

Sebbie waited for him to finish, inhaling deeply and speaking in a stern tone. “Your family will be very happy when they’re reunited with them and you’re alive. I can’t imagine they would like the idea of you flying off in search of them only to get yourself killed because you’re being reckless.”

He frowned for a moment. “Where is this planet you want to send me to?”

Sebbie opened up a holo map and pointed to Nivo. “We’re here. You would be over here.” He pointed to the small planet Iz and Cerys lived on.

Pan looked at the map, frowning for a moment. He pointed to an area past Chiss space. “My family is somewhere over here.”

“Yes.”

“You’re asking me to go in the wrong direction. That’s _further_ from where I need to go.”

“Pan…”

“No.” He turned and walked to the door. “I’m not going there, and you can’t make me do anything. I don’t even know who you people are.”

Sebbie sighed after Pan slammed the door on them. He looked at Baz. “No more teenagers.”

Baz nodded. “Agreed.”


	5. Chapter 5

It was storming outside, again. Pan decided he’d just leave anyway, because fuck these people thinking they could tell him what to do. They were wrong to think that he would willingly take himself further from his family, and even more wrong to think he’d be okay with spending more time just waiting around for someone else to take care of his problems for him.

He just wanted to go home. How was that too much to ask?

He even had a plan: He’d take Sev’s ship. Everything was going perfectly fine until Sev showed up and smothered Pan’s life with his unwanted and unneeded opinions, so he didn't even feel bad about the plan.

Unfortunately, the plan hit a road block pretty quickly. The door was snowed shut. Literally. There was snow up to his chest blocking the door. He was stuck.

It seemed like the worst thing ever, to be stuck in someone else’s house and not want to be around them. Not that he minded any of the kids, they were fine. But he needed to avoid Baz and Sebbie at all costs, along with Sev and Cohren. He would just have to wait until the snow cleared, and then he could take their ship.

“Pan?”

He’d go find his parents and forget about these people. Piloting a ship with his arm in a sling wouldn’t be all that easy, but he’d make do.

“Pan?”

“What?!” He immediately wanted to suck the words back into his mouth. He’d snapped at Arlo. “Er… I…um… sorry…”

She didn’t look offended, just confused. “Are you okay?”

 _No._ “I’m fine.”

“You look frustrated.”

“I’m fine.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Come with me.” She grabbed his arm and led him quickly through the house, into another room. A bedroom. The floor was littered with drawings.

Her drawings.

It was her bedroom.

What was he doing in her bedroom? Why did she bring him here?

“Er…”

She dug through a closet and threw a thick, warm scarf at him. “Put that on.” She wrapped another one around her neck and forced her window open, stepping through it onto the roof. He couldn’t see anything other than snow out there.

She reached back in to help him, “The wind is cut off right here. It’s not too bad. If you want to be alone it’s a nice place to think, even when it’s snowing like this.”

He managed through the window without her help. She was right – it was right at a little nook of two upper portions of the house, cut off from all the wind. It really wasn’t too bad.

“It’s rough when we’re all stuck in there together. You can come out here if you want to be alone for a bit.”

“Thank you.”

“I have to close the window, I don’t think you can open it yourself with your arm. I’ll be just inside, you can knock when you want back in.”

“Oh. Okay… er…” She started for the window. “You could stay out here. If you wanted to. I know it’s kind of cold…” Did he make the suggestion too quickly? He felt like the words sort of poured out faster than he’d intended, sounded a little more desperate than he’d intended.

She looked surprised. “Oh. Okay.” She moved to the nook area and took a seat in the snow. He did the same. “Did you want to… talk?”

He did, but then he also didn’t. On one hand, it would be nice to have someone reasonable listen to his concerns. On the other, he really doubted she wanted to hear about his problems. “I don’t know, honestly. I feel like I’ve done more talking in the past week than I have in the past several years.” He paused. Actually, he probably _had_ done more taking in the past week. They never needed him to talk in the facility, and he never wanted to talk to any of them.

“I’m okay with that. My dads… they said something to you, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. They want to send me to some friend of theirs. A doctor who can use the Force. They think he can help me while I make a full recovery. But he’s on a planet further from my family, and… and I don’t know.” He sighed. There were no more words. He was tired of words. He’d been alone and quiet for so long, he’d forgotten how exhausting it was to speak.

“What is it?” She eyed him suspiciously.

“What?”

“This Force thing you all keep talking about. I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I, really. It was known back on my home planet. Through stories that people told, mostly. I don’t know what it really is. Or what to do with it. I’m not even really sure I need it. I’m sure Sev would be more than happy to ramble to you about it. He probably knows more than I do.”

“Can you feel it?”

“Yeah. I guess. I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. I never had it before I was taken, but over time… I started to feel it.”

“Don’t feel like you have to answer this… but what did the people who took you do to you?”

“Tests to try and help me gain access to it.” He rubbed the back of his neck, tracing the spinal scar with the tips of his fingers. “Bad tests. The scar on my back was from a thing they had attached to me for awhile. I don’t know what exactly it did, but it was painful.”

Her big, dark blue eyes looked very sad. “I’m sorry.”

“Whatever. It’s done now. I’m away from them. And now I’m going to go find my family. And I’ll forget it ever happened.”

“Do you want to?”

“Forget about it?” She had no idea what she was asking. “Yeah. Of course. It… was awful. I thought I was going to die in there.”

“But you didn’t. I mean… I think I understand that it was terrible. But bad things have to happen so good things can happen too. I don’t think it’s something you should forget about. It will make everything else seem that much better from now on.”

He hadn’t really thought of it that way. He nodded his head a little. “Yeah. I suppose that makes sense.”

“Plus, look, you did get something good from it.”

He blinked at her. “What?”

Her mouth twisted into a crooked smirk. “Well, you can save me if someone’s ever throwing coasters at me.”

They both laughed.

“Do you think that was worth 5 or 6 years of suffering?” She smiled at him.

“Absolutely. Let me know if the situation ever comes up again.”

A creak from the window made them both jump.

Sev was crawling out of the window. Arlo casted Pan a glance that told him she was thinking the same thing he was – this guy was strange.

He straightened up, staggering a little. Pan swore he was sniffing the air or something like that. He looked out over the white, barely visible city.

“Damn, this weather is shit.” He looked at them, “They sent me to talk to you. Apparently I’m supposed to convince you to take their deal.”

Pan frowned. Sev might have been the single worst person they could have sent to do that job.

Arlo stood, “I think I should leave you guys to work this out…”

Sev waved at her, “Nah. Take a seat, you can stay.” He pulled a cigarette from one of his pockets and lit it, stepping over to them and seating himself, like he’d been asked to join them. “I’ve been wanting one of these all day.” He took the cigarette between his fingers and pointed at her, “The sketches in there… are they yours?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re good. Have you ever tried tattooing?”

“Er… no.”

“Your style would translate well. You should give it a go sometime.”

“Oh… how exactly do you practice?”

He took a long drag. “The key is finding really stupid people who don’t care if you fuck up.” He waved the cigarette toward Pan. “Like my friend they’re trying to send you to. He was one of my first.”

“Aren’t you supposed to convince me to want to go live with him?” Pan said flatly.

“Yeah. That doesn’t make you curious?” He laughed for some reason. “He was a dumb shit when I met him. Gave him a full body piece before he was 18. And now he’s all… well balanced and normal. It’s beyond strange.”

“You’re really not selling this well.”

“I’m not trying to sell you anything, kid.” He sniffed, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. “Look, what business is it of mine what you do? I know they want me to come talk you into doing it, but really it’s not their business either. I mean trust me, when I was your age I was out there on my own as well, and I got the headaches as well. Granted, I was never stupid enough to try flying. I can tell you one thing though: You need to get the fuck off this cold piece of shit planet.”

“Er… yeah. That’s what I’ve been telling them.” He was a little perplexed by Sev suddenly agreeing with him.

“Right, but you’re not seeing the big picture. That ship you jacked from them? I’m willing to bet they had tracking on it.” He peered at Pan over the top of his shades. “They likely know where you are and are going to send someone to retrieve you.”

He hadn’t thought of that. He couldn’t have them here. If they found him with this family… they would wipe the neat little house clean of any signs of life.

“So yeah, you need to make your decision, whatever you’re going to do, and make it soon.”

He nodded slowly. How had he not thought of that? He definitely needed to leave, and soon. He would probably need to change ships a few times, on a few different planets, just to throw them off.

“Look… kid… It’s of no fucking consequence to me if you run off and kill yourself trying to find your parents. They aren’t being fair to you. They need to lay out the facts: One, you’re likely being tracked and need to leave here soon. Two, the headaches aren’t going to stop. Unless maybe you see a killer doctor and they by some miracle find a way to help you. I don’t know, I’m skeptical of that. Three, and I really think they haven’t told you this yet, the headaches are going to get worse.”

His stomach dropped. “Worse?”

“Yeah. I know, you probably can’t imagine them getting worse. They will. Sorry.”

“How much worse?”

“They peaked about a year in for me. At their worst, they take me out for a few days.”

The thought made him nauseous.

“Look, like I said, I don’t give a fuck if you’d rather go kill yourself. But if I were you… well if I were you I’d be 16 and stupid again, so I guess that doesn’t matter. I’d make the same dumb decision. But… look, when I was your age I was alone when I went through all this. And if you go run off to track down your parents, you’ll be alone as well. I look at people like…” He flung a hand toward Arlo, “People like these kids… things would have turned out a lot differently for me if I’d had that.”

“I get that.” He tried to keep his tone under control. “But that’s exactly what I want to go find. My family. I need to be back with them.”

“Yes but…” Arlo hesitated when he looked at her. Her eyes were big, almost afraid looking. “But you don’t really know where they are, do you? You said you were raised on a ship. They could be anywhere. They might not even be in that area of space. They could be out, looking for you. You’re looking for a moving needle in a galaxy sized haystack.”

The way she looked at him made him want to shrink back into the wall. He broke eye contact quickly.

“They’re also not telling you the full extent that they’ll be able to help you. Baz’s father is really, really well connected in that area of space. You let them help you and you’ll probably find them quicker than if you were to work alone.” Sev added.

Pan wanted to laugh at him, he clearly didn’t know what he was talking about. Nobody was that well connected in that area of space. It was a nice thought, but it wouldn’t work.

“I think that my grandfather is actually quite well known around that space. We don’t speak of it much here, he prefers to keep low key. His name is Mitth’raw’nuorodo. Have you heard of him?”

Pan’s mouth dropped open.

Well, _almost_ nobody was that well connected in that area of space.

“Yo… You’re kidding me.”

She shook her head, “No. You know who he is?”

“Everyone that side of Chiss space knows who he is.” Holy hell, he’d just met a legend a few days ago and passed out on his floor. “Wait so… that guy… ended up with a human woman?” He whistled. “I had no idea! Chiss keep to themselves so much, they’re really not fond of outsiders. I couldn’t imagine any of them being with someone from another species, but especially…  I mean the Chiss tout him like he’s their prime specimen.”

“Grandfather is… remarkable, I think.”

“Huh… it must run in the family.”

“What?”

He backtracked quickly. It was a bold move, he didn’t have the gall to keep it up.

Sev pushed up to his feet, “Well, I’m off. Like I said, kid, make your decision soon.”

“When are you two leaving? They mentioned you’d take me to your friend, if that’s what I decide to do.”

“Not for a few days.”

“Oh?” Arlo sounded surprised. “The storm should let up tomorrow. I assumed you guys were leaving then.”

He tapped his temple, “I can feel a headache coming on. We’ll be stuck here awhile.”

“Oh. Oh no.”

He felt for Sev. He was all too familiar with the foreboding feeling that came just before an attack.

He waved a hand nonchalantly, “Don’t worry about it, Cohren’s used to taking care of me when this happens. I won’t tell them where you guys are.”

Pan swore the guy winked at him before he went back inside.

Arlo frowned after him. “You think he’ll be okay?”

“In a few days, yeah.”

She was quiet, playing with the snow near her legs. “You should go with them. It’s the best way. Maybe the guy they want you to stay with can help with your headaches. It’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

He wasn’t expecting this from her. “I mean if he could do anything about it, why wouldn’t he have helped Sev already?”

“I don’t know. But it’s worth a try. Don’t you think? And they’re right… you shouldn’t go out there alone.”

He huffed a little, looking away from her. “I know.”

“If you know then why do you want to go?”

Pan shook his head. “They took me from my parents so long ago. I just… I miss them. And I miss my home. I miss it all so much it hurts to think about it. I just want to be back where things are normal again.”

“We can help you find them. It would be so much safer for you.”

“What if you don’t find them?”

“Then… then you go look for them. With someone else, especially if you’re still getting these headaches.”

“Who? I don’t know anyone…”

“You know me.”

He blinked at her.

“I’d go with you. You would have to teach me how to fly so I could actually help out. I’m done with school in a few years. If we haven’t found them by then, I’ll go with you.”

“You’re not actually serious.”

She looked offended. “What? Of course I am. Why would I joke about that?”

“It’s not very… realistic.”

“It’s more realistic than you flying all the way out there by yourself.” She crossed her arms. “I stand by it, I’ll go with you.”

“Will you really?”

“Yes.” She snipped at him. “Don’t doubt me. I don’t take my word back on things like this.”

He looked at her for a few long moments. “Thank you.”

She smiled widely, “Of course I’ll help. And if you find them before I’m done with school, then you still need to come teach me.”

“How to fly?”

“Yeah. It seems fun.”

“Okay. Deal.”

“Will you really?”

“Yeah. I’d teach you now but Sev’s ship would be terrible to learn with.”

She wiggled a little, grinning. “I’m holding you to that.”

“Good.” He laughed at her a little.

And then it happened. He didn’t really mean to, but he leaned toward her and kissed her.

She looked surprised.

And then she ran away.

  



	6. Chapter 6

Sebbie was actually somewhat excited about Sev getting a headache, which made Baz feel even worse for the guy. Sev clearly was dreading it. From what Sebbie and Arlo had told him about Pan’s headache at the hospital, it was bad news.

His husband saw it as a learning opportunity – a chance for him to gather more data on what was happening to both Sev and Pan. He’d brought home some equipment in the event that Pan had another attack – he situated an irritated looking Sev with some sticky pads on his forehead, base of his neck, and temples.

Cohren quietly asked them for a private room – Brink was happy to lend his. Within fifteen minutes, Sev was reduced to a near unconscious, withering ball of pain. It was awful to see – Baz left the room with Cohren sitting next to Sev on the bed, looking concerned as he ran his fingers through the man’s hair. Sebbie moved out of the room as well, taking his monitor with him to read the measures coming in from the pads plastered to Sev.

“Sev’s headaches are worse.” Sebbie watched the screen intently, looking sad. “I hope he’s wrong, I hope they don’t get worse for Pan.”

“We need to keep Pan away from Brink’s room. He shouldn’t see.”

Sebbie nodded, smirking a little. “We should stand outside the door. He won’t go anywhere near it if we’re there.”

Baz laughed. “Arlo…” He spotted her down the hallway. “Can you come here for a second?”

Her eyes were huge. She looked afraid as she joined them at the table.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

She answered entirely too quickly.

Sebbie looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “You sure about that?”

“Yes.”

Again, way too quickly.

“Right… well… Seb and I were just talking, we need you to help us out with something. Sev is having a headache, but his appears to be worse than what you saw with Pan. He’s in Brink’s room now. We need you to help us keep Pan away from him. We don’t want him to see how bad Sev’s headaches are. Do you think you can help us?”

“Um…”

“I was just thinking that you two seem to get along pretty well. I don’t think he’ll mind spending some time with you.”

She still hesitated. Baz knew his daughter. She was terrified of something.

Sebbie was looking at her closely, his eyes finally drawn from the monitor. “Do you need to talk to us about something?”

“No.” She stood and nearly ran away from them, her voice a few octaves higher than normal. “Get Trixie to help, she’s better with this sort of stuff.” She froze mid step. “Wait. No. Not Trixie. Kiva. Kiva’s good at that stuff.”

“Um… okay?”

“Yep.” She disappeared into a room.

Sebbie shook his head, looking back to the monitor. “No more teenagers.”

 

**

 

Pan avoided them the rest of the day – Kiva kept him distracted and away from Sev. Arlo spent most of her day locked in the attic with her drawing supplies.

They didn’t see her again until late in the evening. They were in the study, discussing other options they might be able to offer Pan. He considered contacting Ren, but Sebbie shut that idea down pretty quickly.

She walked into the room, her eyes still huge, and closed the door behind her.

“Hey.” Sebbie said. “What’s up? You finally want to talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you?”

She inhaled deeply, looking at both of them. “I think… I… maybe… Um…”

Baz made a mental note to ask his mother if he’d ever acted like this when he was a teenager.

Arlo burst into tears, sobbing something neither of them could understand.

He looked at Sebbie. Sebbie shrugged, looking just as clueless as Baz felt.

“Arlo… What’s wrong?”

She sobbed something again.

“Do you want some tea or water or something? You need to calm down. Whatever you’re trying to tell us, we can’t help you if we can’t understand you.”

She sobbed a little more, wiping at her eyes and inhaling deeply. “Um… Pan… um… we sort of… um… he kissed me…”

He looked at Sebbie again, who still looked as confused as Baz.

“Okay. You didn’t want him to?”

“No I… I don’t know… I’m sorry…” She started sobbing again.

Sebbie had a crooked smile on his face. “You like him?”

Unintelligible sobbing.

“I sort of guessed that, you two have been pretty close since he got here. What’s the problem?”

Baz hadn’t noticed them being particularly close, he thought they were just being friends. Sebbie was generally better at reading these things than he was. Nonetheless, Baz didn’t see an issue with the situation. Pan was a nice kid, even if he was a little confused at the moment.

He watched her try to hide her face, and recognized a familiar expression. She was embarrassed.

“Oh. I think I know what the problem is.”

“You do?” Sebbie sounded sincerely surprised.

“Arlo, when I referred to him as an honorary family member, I didn’t mean that he was a sibling to you.”

Sebbie’s mouth popped open. “OH. I see. Yeah, he’s not… Definitely not. I mean we like the kid and all, but we have enough of you around the house.”

“Really… it’s okay, Arlo. You don’t need to be upset.”

She was still trying to wipe tears away.

Sebbie laughed and scooped her into a hug, “Hey, stop. You’re fine. It’s not weird in any way. It’s okay for you to like him.” He paused. “However, it is not okay for you to be anywhere private with him anymore. No closed doors.”

She sniffled a laugh.

Sebbie cast him a glance – he wasn’t joking. No more closed doors.

 

**

 

Sev’s headache left him incapacitated him for nearly three days, and became the nail in the coffin for Pan. Even after he recovered enough to leave Brink’s room, he looked completely wiped out.

He approached the four adults when he was able to find them alone. They were sitting around a table talking. Except Sev – his face was down on the table, hidden in his arms like he might be asleep.

“I’ve thought about your offer.” He crossed his arms, clearing his throat a little, trying to sound like he was completely confident in the decision he was making. “I’ll take it, but under a few conditions.”

Sebbie looked relieved. Baz quirked his head, “What are your conditions?”

“First, you said you would help me try to find my parents, right?”

“Correct. We fully intend on holding up our end of the deal. If they’re anywhere near Chiss space, I can assure you we will find them.” Baz said.

“You have to let me be involved in the search. I want to know what’s going on.”

He nodded, “Yes, of course. I think that’s only fair. We’ll make sure you’re able to contact us at will to discuss progress and give your input.”

“Good. Thank you. Second, I’m leaving whenever I want. If we can't find them, I’m going after them myself. Headaches or no.”

Baz nodded slowly and looked at Sebbie. “I don't think we can really stop you from leaving if that's what you want. We'll take any bit of time we can get.”

“Just... Try to be patient. Give us plenty of time to exhaust all our resources. I think it’s safe to say if we haven’t found them in a year, we won’t be able to find them. Of course, I would prefer if you didn’t run off after them alone in a year, but we can cross that road when the time comes. Is that reasonable?"

Pan nodded. A year. He could do a year.

“Iz is going to be so fucking happy…” Sev mumbled into the table, not bothering to lift his head.

Cohren smiled. “I’ll let him know you’ve decided to take the offer. We were planning on leaving tomorrow morning. Are you okay with that?”

He nodded. “Yeah…” Something made him hesitate. It was like… losing another family, in a way. He couldn’t help but feel a little sad. “Yeah. Tomorrow morning is good.”

Baz smiled, “You won’t be too terribly far from here, we will have to come pay you a visit when we can. I’m certain the kids will demand it.”

He was certain they wouldn’t. Arlo hadn’t spoken to him since the rooftop incident.

 

**

 

When he came downstairs the next morning Cohren had a funny look on his face, like he was about to start laughing. Maybe it was his hair, he’d decided to cut it last night. In the facility, they’d kept it shaved. But it was starting to get a little bit of length to it, and it had a tendency to stand straight up, so it just looked sort of funny. He took to his old hairstyle, the one he’d had before he was taken. Shaved on the sides and left longer in the middle, sticking straight up. He’d always been fond of the style. Maybe it was unusual here. Even Sev gave him a funny look when he saw him.

The kids each took time to say goodbye to him. He thanked Kiva for letting him use his room, which Kiva adamantly dismissed. He offered to get Brink’s clothing back to him but he waved it off, claiming that they were old and didn’t fit him anymore (Pan believed this – Brink was slightly taller than him and more muscular). Trixie wrapped him into a hug and planed a kiss on his cheek. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of her.

Arlo was nowhere to be seen.

Sebbie and Baz reviewed their plan with him, to get started searching for his parents. They planned to start by reaching out to Thrawn’s contacts in the area, and would expand from there. He gave them all the information he had on his parents – their names, their ship information, the places they frequented.

He helped move Sev and Cohren’s stuff out to their ship. He was almost done loading everything when Arlo appeared. She'd done her makeup differently today, with red marks under her eyes similar to Baz's markings. It was cute on her. But then, she was always cute.

“Oh. Arlo. Hey.” He felt like he was choking on words.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah… Er… look… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

She popped up onto her toes and kissed him. He nearly fell over.

She tried to hide a smile. “Don’t worry. It’s fine. Really. I just… didn’t know what to do.”

“Ah… Really?”

Her smile looked a little sad. “I’m going to miss you. My parents say we’ll come visit.”

“Yeah… they mentioned that…”

“Do you want to… maybe talk more while you’re away?”

Words were hard to find. “Um… yeah. Yeah. That would be awesome.”

She grinned.

 

**

 

Cohren reclined in the pilot’s seat, relaxing once the ship was on its path. He was a professional pilot, Pan learned. The ship wasn’t Sev’s, it was his. He was very happy he didn’t go through with stealing it after he found that out.

“You’re going to like Iz and Cerys. They’re good people. I think you’ll get along really well with Iz.”

“Iz gets along with everyone really well.” Sev, for some reason, was lying on the floor of the ship with his forearms over his eyes.

“He does, but that’s just because he’s a good person. And so is Cerys. We haven’t seen them in a few years, it’s actually nice to have an excuse to go see them.”

“Ceryssss…” Sev hissed the last part of her name.

“Are you sure they don’t mind taking me in?”

Sev snorted. “Nah. No. Kid, you don’t even know.”

Cohren laughed, “No, they don’t mind at all. They’re good people. Trust me when I say you will be in very good hands. Iz has actually been trying to figure out Sev’s headaches since they were kids. I think he’s a little excited to get a second patient to maybe get some more answers.”

“Oh? You two knew each other as kids?”

“Yeah, but he was different then. If Cerys only knew…”

Cohren laughed at his partner.

Sev sniffed, pushing himself to a seated position. “I say these things, but Iz really is a good guy.” He nodded, like he was cementing the statement as fact. “He’s the best person I know.”

“Is he?” Cohren asked, an eyebrow quirked upward.

Sev stared back at him for a moment. “What, are you fishing for a compliment or something?”

“Maybe.”

There was a long, quiet moment as they stared at each other.

Sev looked to Pan. “Like I said, he’s the best person I know.”

Cohren chuckled, standing from his seat and messing up Sev’s hair as he walked to the back area of the ship. “Asshole.”

Sev sneered after him.

This seemed like the most peculiar relationship to Pan.

When Cohren was out of earshot, Pan asked: “You couldn’t just… give him a compliment?”

Sev looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t really need to. He knows. He doesn’t even qualify as a person.” He waved a hand nonchalantly at the exit Cohren left through. “He’s like… a fucking deity or something. He’s not even on the same level.” His eyes drifted back to the doorway and he stood. “You can pilot, right?”

“Er… yeah…” He looked at the ship’s control panel. It looked very different from anything he was used to.

“Good. Take care of it if anything goes wrong. I'll be back soon.” And he strode out of the doorway quickly.

Pan hoped nothing would go wrong.

And then he laughed. Everything was already going so wrong from his original plans. Maybe he should just ride this adventure out and see where it took him.

  



	7. Chapter 7

Pan felt like he made a very good deal when they landed on the planet that was to become his temporary home. It was _gorgeous_.

As they flew in, he could see the planet was largely aquatic, dotted with lush, green little islands. They landed near the edge of a larger island, not far from an inviting, sandy beach. A house stood off to the side, with a dock that stretched out into the crystal blue water.

Cohren clapped a hand on his shoulder, “Told you that you’d like it here.”

Sev was already out the door – Pan had quickly learned Sev wasn’t fond of long trips in small ships. Not that the trip was particularly long, but Sev was clearly starting to lose his mind.

He nodded, looking out at the dreamlike view. "I'm happy you guys had Sev talk me into coming here."

Cohren was quiet for a moment. He scratched his mouth, hiding a smile. "Yeah, we didn't ask him to talk to you. I didn't even know that happened." He looked out to his partner, who was standing in the sand, talking to a couple with two children. "He must have done that on his own accord."

They went to join Sev and the family. The woman had orange hair and a sort of proud, assured air about her. Her husband had a very kind smile and a much more relaxed demeanor. Sev was already playing with the kids, a little girl with dark hair and a boy with orange hair.

The man held his hand out, “You must be Pan? I’m Iz. It’s good to meet you.” He smiled widely. “I like your hair.”

He understood now why Cohren and Sev were nearly laughing at him the day they left Nivo. Iz had the exact same hairstyle, only his didn’t stick up.

“It’s good to meet you too. Thank you for taking me in.”

“It’s not a problem at all.” His wife came across just as kind, in her own way. "We're happy to have you. I'm Cerys."

“The two monsters playing with Sev are Brie and Oz. They've been asking about you pretty much non stop today, so just be prepared to answer a lot of questions."

The kids were starting to get rough with Sev, having nearly tackled him into the sand. He put his hand out and Force-pushed the little girl just barely, making her skip back a few steps in the sand. Much to Pan’s surprise, she turned around and did the same thing to him.

“Oh… your daughter is a Force user?” He didn’t know people so young could use it.

“They both are.” Iz scooped her up from the sand and started walking toward the house. “Why don’t you all come in?”

Cerys turned after him, “I made a big meal for us all. We have a room ready for you Pan, if you want to bring anything you’re welcome to start moving in whenever.”

 

**

 

Late in the evening, after the kids went to bed, he snuck out to the edge of the dock. The other four were inside talking, catching up on a few years worth of events.

He inhaled the ocean-scented air deeply and reclined back on his hands, looking up to the stunning array of stars overhead. His parents were out there, somewhere. Maybe they were looking for him. Maybe things had changed massively since he was taken. Or maybe they hadn’t changed at all. Whatever the case, he would find them.

But right now… he reclined all the way back onto the dock, lying down with his arms propped under his head. For now, he would fall asleep here, at the end of this dock under the stars, with the ocean gently lapping against the dock pilings and a slight breeze keeping him perfectly comfortable.

For the first time in a very, very long time, he knew that everything would be okay. He would only be here a year and a half at most, until Arlo was done with her schoolwork. In the meantime, what could possibly happen here on this quiet, sunny little planet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, commenting and leaving kudos, I'm always shocked when a purely (or almost purely) OC story gets so much love. I'm terribly, terribly sorry for deleting the original -- there were some great comments/questions on there from some of you (I'm going to be kicking myself for that one for a very long time).
> 
> I know this doesn't end Pan's story with a nice bow -- that's because his story isn't over! Hang tight, he'll be back soon!
> 
> Watch for the first chapter of the next story tomorrow!


End file.
